Donations sought for Nyce burial, children
To the editor:
I am writing in response to the front-page story in the Jan. 29 paper covering Michelle Nyce’s memorial ceremony. I was pleased with the manner in which Michelle’s memorial ceremony was reported. The article written by John Tredrea was both thorough and sensitive.
However, I was disappointed the article did not mention the need for contributions towards Michelle’s memorial and burial costs as well as The Educational Trust Fund for the Nyce children, which is being established by her best friend, Larissa Soos.
At the memorial, there were boxes available for the mourner’s to donate to either fund, which they did graciously. Thank you to everyone for attending and giving to these two funds.
It has been said that Ms. Soos has received no assistance from the Nyce family. They have reneged on a verbal agreement to assist her with funeral arrangements and Michelle’s family in the Philippines cannot afford to fly her back for a proper burial. Due to this fact, Ms. Soos has incurred personal expenses with making funeral arrangements and has received only voluntary assistance from the community. It has been said it will cost about $13,000 to pay for the flight and burial in the Philippines.
Also, thank you to Pastor Andy Mahaney and the Princeton Community Church, Pennington Market for the refreshments and flowers, Dunkin’ Donuts in Ewing for refreshments, Cromwell-Immordino Memorial Home for assistance with the memorial service and funeral arrangements and the community of Hopewell Ridge for all your support. You all exemplify the meaning of community, caring and support.
Readers who want to donate to Michelle Nyce’s burial and/or The Nyce Children Educational Trust Fund, which is being established, can call Larissa Soos at 466-2937.
Marla Colton, Hopewell Township
About school district’s strategic planning session
To the editor:
On Jan. 23 and 24, I had the privilege of participating in Hopewell Valley’s Strategic Plan Review and Renewal Kick-Off Event. There were 52 of us there: Carole Larsen (a facilitator from the NJ School Boards Association), the local school board, the superintendent and the chief administrators, all the principals, 10 teachers, eight parents (including myself), four members of the community at large and five high school students.
Over the course of the weekend we all worked together to go over the 2000 Strategic Plan, come up with goals for the next five years, and start developing strategies to implement those goals. Those of us who want to keep doing this will be joined by new recruits (I guess including people who volunteered for this session but couldn’t be fit in) to work over the next few months writing up a final version of the renewed Strategic Plan.
One of the most useful and enjoyable parts of the workshop was having students there. Their crucial function was to provide what a friend of mine in the map-making industry calls "ground truth" not just what you think or hope is going on, but what is actually happening on the ground. But it’s also just nice to work with people of different ages and perspectives. Though the organizers made a concerted effort to include people with differing points of view, the one shortfall I could see is that only one of the "outsiders" (parents and community members) was a senior citizen.
According to the 2000 Census, about 20 percent of the adults in Hopewell Valley are 62 or over, so, given that eight of the spots were taken by parents under 62, probably two or three of the "community-at-large" spots should have been for seniors.
Strategic planning of this sort is a superb tool for a coherent organization to use to choose its direction and basic strategies. I’m not yet certain how good it will be at getting more public feeling and ideas into the school district’s decisions, but I’m looking forward to finding out.
Mary Ellen Curtin, Hopewell Township
